Stargate: Return of the Ancients, Season 2, Ep 9
by Aer-ki Jyr
Summary: Episode, "Emergence" Year: 2016
1. Chapter 1

With the Attero Device destroyed and the bulk of the Alterran fleet pinned defending their garrison worlds, the Wraith leapt forth from their inner core worlds en mass, sending hundreds of hive ships out to individual planets across the galaxy, some of which wouldn't arrive at their destinations for more than a year. They went alone, leaving behind all warships to keep the Alterra at bay while they returned to the stars, too many for their enemy to track down and kill, meaning at minimum some would be lost in the chaos and free to plant new roots where the Alterra wouldn't find them.

With them they took their cloned Humans, with the ability to make many more. When the first of the hive ships arrived they grounded at their new hideaways and began to dig into the surface of their new worlds, burrowing caverns and growing buildings deep underground where it would be difficult for the Alterra to get at them. There they established their Human farms, slowly growing their numbers while feeding the skeleton crews assigned to the exodus.

From there they waited, patient as their species was, and grew their power while the war raged on. In a number of years the Wraith would have enough resources to begin producing more warships at their outposts, as well as growing new hive ships that would expand further, completely undercutting the Alterra's containment efforts. The Wraith queens knew that they couldn't challenge the formidable technology of the Alterra's massive warships…they would win this war with numbers. Insane numbers.

The Lanteans would buy them the time they needed to grow while the Wraith inner core worlds made the sacrifice of transformation to ensure that the war raged on, giving the illusion that they were pushing the offensive when in truth it was all a ruse. Guile was their choice of tactic, and one that Remus understood well. Together they would hit the Alterra where they were weak, distract and disrupt their own growth, all the while the Wraith secretly grew into the hammer that would smash Atlantis and its creators once and for all…after that, they'd deal with Remus and his ilk, or what was left of them.

* * *

_Several weeks earlier…_

The iktal on the bridge of warship 4702 sat in their command chairs, silently monitoring ship functions as Alba Longa rose up from the waterworld to join the fleet, then they received automated orders instructing them to follow the Lantean city into hyperspace. The helmsman and other bridge crew interfaced with the manual controls as well as operating as a hive mind via their cybernetic implants, bringing the ship's hyperdrive online while staggering their entry point so that they didn't collide with any of the other ships in the fleet.

They watched the gigantic flying city disappear, with dozens of hyperspace windows opening in its wake as the Lantean warships transitioned into the alternate dimension, fleeing the planet before the Alterra arrived en mass. The iktal helmsman input the command sequence to initiate a computer-synced jump but the hyperspace window did not form, nor did the engines accelerate the ship forward. The bridge crew immediately began running diagnostics, not uttering a word, as the rest of the fleet left without them…then as one all the iktal relaxed and resumed normal operations as new commands were issued to them via the shipboard broadcasting network.

A few minutes later a Lantean appeared at the back of the bridge and one of the now reprogrammed iktal moved out of the captain's chair as he approached, but Romulus chose to stand, placing his hands on top of the shoulder rest from behind as he breathed a sigh of relief looking out on the now empty planet below.

"_Open broadcast frequency_," he ordered, pausing a moment for the iktal to carry out the command. "_Jina, you're clear to come aboard. Use the main bay. Something is going on and I get the feeling this system is no longer safe, so hurry_."

"_On my way_," the other surviving Alba Longan said from her navicula porta still submerged within the planet's ocean.

Romulus walked up next to one of the iktal and reached down to his station. The brute pulled back his arms to give the Lantean space as he accessed the ship's comm systems and made sure they were locked down as far as the inter-ship control signals were concerned. The overrides he'd made were local only and he didn't want Remus retaking control of the ship's crew remotely. Whether or not he'd notice the ship missing during transit was uncertain, but upon arrival either he or one of his treasonous minions would note the omission…and then Remus would know that Romulus was back in play.

He probably had thought he'd stranded his former friend on the planet, and had done a good job of making his and Jina's life difficult with only a pair of jumpers between them. They'd managed to remain undetected, staying away from the city and raiding the mining installations on the ocean floor for supplies. Remus had anticipated that tactic and had armed iktal guarding the installations, but Romulus had been cagy enough to infiltrate one of them, creating a blind spot in their surveillance…literally. Within the support areas the iktal had been reprogramed not to recognize his profile and subsequently ignore his existence, not transmitting his location or even walking around him when he passed by them in the halls.

Had Romulus applied that program to the entire station Remus might have become aware, but by keeping it imbedded in the low priority areas he gave himself safe zones to move about within, and from there he made strategic raids further into the installation for equipment that he used to upgrade the jumpers with what the Lanteans needed to survive, including a makeshift synthesizer and several power cells so they could make other items the station didn't have…like food.

Romulus had undone his blind spot and retreated back to the jumpers where he and Jina hid out until he got bold enough to try and board one of the warships in orbit, knowing that they were the only way they were going to get out of the system. Getting aboard had taken him a week, requiring him to park his jumper just over the hull and hack into the ship's systems remotely by using a weak signal that the rest of the fleet and Alba Longa couldn't detect.

He also had to keep from being noticed by the system safeguards, meaning a very delicate hack of the systems that he had helped to create, which was the only reason he was able to get in. Unknown to Remus, he had left multiple hidden codes within every piece of software and hardware that he had written, allowing him a private inroad to prevent anyone from ever locking him out. While he had shared virtually everything with Remus freely, the thought of the Wraith finding a way to take control of the iktal had always bothered him, which made it logical to have a backup method of reasserting control…one that didn't show up in any database, and therefore one that the Wraith, or any other adversary, wouldn't know about.

Secrecy meant he had to keep such things from Remus too, though he had never imagined that the man would turn on him like this. They'd even shared primary security codes, making their dual command literally one individual, so far as the computer systems were concerned. Even the biometrics registered each of them as the same command signature, with only an ID tag for record keeping purposes as to who had issued what order.

That all had changed when Remus took control. He'd locked out Romulus from the system, and since the iktal were more computer than lifeform they responded in sync, meaning the army he'd been diligently building over millennia cut all ties with him on a single command.

Unfortunately there was more than the iktal in play, and Remus couldn't take control of the other Lanteans the same way. Save for Jina all of the Alba Longans, Romulus's closest and loyalest followers, had been killed and who knew how many more out across their other facilities. He guessed Remus couldn't have killed everyone, for he needed them to effectively command and manage the iktal, but he was sure various supporters had been eliminated with the rest of those on the fence being bullied into submission.

Once Romulus had gained an inroad into the warship's computer systems the first thing he did was cover his tracks, writing new programs to keep his access hidden and double up command lines, allowing normal operations while giving him the ability to override them at a moment's notice. Eventually he had the ability to access their information network and every ship system remotely from the cloaked jumper, where he learned that news of his death had been broadcast out through the Lantean information network, citing that a rebellious faction of Alba Longa had sided with the Alterra and killed him with Remus subsequently exacting revenge, leaving him in sole command.

Romulus had to give him credit. As skilled as he was with computer systems his former friend was just as savvy with regards to problem solving. This way there would be no counter-rebellion from the Lanteans. Remus was already their co-leader, so following him wouldn't be an issue…save for his decision to assist the Wraith. How he was going to play that off he didn't know, and there wasn't anything in the information networks about that yet, but ultimately he'd get his way, given the wholesale slaughter he'd committed here. A few more select assassinations would just be additional drops in the blood bucket.

But would the remaining Lanteans outwardly rebel over siding with the Wraith? He wanted to say yes, but he knew otherwise. They trusted both him and Remus implicitly, and with Romulus gone Remus was the only unifying factor they had left. They would submit to his alliance with the Wraith, unwillingly at first, but they wouldn't openly fight him over it, and the few dissenters among them would disappear in quick order.

Romulus knew he had to get to them before Remus could, but he hadn't had an opportunity to do so until now. When the city began to lift off he knew he'd been given his chance and acted quickly to disable the warship's hyperdrive, then after the last of the other ships left he simply ordered the bay doors open and flew aboard.

Jina's jumper made its way up to orbit in good order and slipped aboard the ship, eager to escape their exile. Romulus immediately ordered their departure from the system, disabling their tracking device so neither Remus nor any other Lantean could track their movements. By the time Sheppard and his fleet of Columnars arrived Romulus was long gone.

Jina joined him on the bridge, bumping out one of the iktal from its station with the cyborg cycling over to another position on the bridge while two extras stood guard, for both security and to replace any that might become incapacitated or needed elsewhere.

"_Where are we heading?_" she asked him, her mood sullen and dark, much as it had been since the slaughter.

"_Remus will know I'm alive soon, if not already. He will assume I'm headed to another city to spread the word of my survival and his betrayal, but that's not the endgame I desire_."

"_You mean a civil war_."

"_If we pit ourselves against each other we'll destroy the army we've built to kill the Wraith. I won't let that happen. We've come too far to throw it away now_."

"_What if he's on his way to kill more of us?_"

"_Then he will succeed_," Romulus said, swiveling around in his chair to face her. "_We can't stop him from that, but we can save some…starting with those on the shipyards_."

Jina's eyes widened. "_You want to manually retask the iktal, one section at a time_."

"_I can try to counter him remotely, but I can't guarantee success. He's had time to plan this takeover and weeks to consolidate his holdings. I can override his programming locally, unless he's replaced all the hardware in every computer system on every facility…and I know for a fact that he hasn't on this warship and the mining station, so I'm fairly sure he's unaware of my access. If I try to assert control over all the iktal simultaneously he might be able to backtrack the access, and that's a chance I can't take_."

"_He'll notice when groups start going offline_."

"_I know, which is why I need your help setting up a new tracking and control network_."

Jina closed her eyes, steadying her emotions. "_We'll need local controllers, unless you want to replace hardware._"

"_There's no time for hardware transfers. We have to move fast, before Remus has a chance to counterpunch_."

"_How long?_"

Romulus glanced at the navigation board in front of one of the nearby iktal. "_Twenty three minutes._"


	2. Chapter 2

O'Neill watched as the primary weapon on the _Honestat_ leapt out and hit the Romulan station, momentarily braking against its shields before the green energy ball traveled down the line and smashed into it. The shields absorbed most of it, but the remainder got through and damaged the hull, gouging out a large hole before an image of Liona appeared on the _Homer_'s bridge alongside Jack.

"_Your turn_," she prompted.

O'Neill clapped his hands together loudly. "_My pleasure_," he said, turning to the cartoon hologram to his right. "Would you care to do the honors?"

"Gladly," Homer Simpson said, closing his eyes and concentrating as he placed his hands together in front of his ample gut in a meditative pose. "Hubbada, hubbada, hubbada…boom!" he said, throwing his hands apart and opening his eyes wide.

In perfect sync the _Columnar_-class warship fired its primary weapon, duplicating the blast that had come from the _Honestat_. The beam tore into the hull and the entire station exploded like a popping balloon when the oversurge pulse hit. The debris flew out and hit the few warships that had begun undocking and moving out to engage the Alterran ships, leaving only a few intact.

"_Time to pick up scraps_," O'Neill told his bridge crew and gunners as both massive warships flew forward, bouncing pieces of debris off their shields as they moved in close to destroy what was left as the holographic avatar picked up a piece of cartoon chalk and scratched a third tally mark on the green chalkboard behind him.

* * *

Romulus's confiscated warship dropped out of hyperspace next to what should have been one of their numerous shipyards, but instead all he found was the remains of one that had been blasted into bits with not so much as an intact warship left among the debris.

"_Remus did this?_" Jina asked, aghast.

Romulus stared at the viewscreen for a moment, then began furiously working a console until a sensor scan of the debris morphed into a recognizable image of one of their shipyards. He studied the computer analysis of the damage and slowly began shaking his head.

"_No, the weapon used to destroy this was far more powerful than anything we possess, nor was it Wraith. I would presume the Alterra did this. Probably the same fleet Remus fled from, enabling our escape._"

"_What do we do then?_"

"_We move on to another_," he said, ordering the iktal to get them underway.

"_How do you suppose they found it?_"

"…_and do they have the locations of the others? It's doubtful they followed a ship back to this location, and had they seized one they would not have been able to retrieve the navigational coordinates. At best they would find one of the rendezvous points, and I do not think they would have had much success in deactivated the purging countermeasures there…though I would also hasten to not underestimate their technological ability._"

"_What will Remus do?_"

"_He will check for a breach in our communications systems. If he finds none he will begin relocating the shipyards. That will take time, and we should be able to get to some of them before he or the Alterra do, if they are truly responsible for this. Their hyperdrives have proven to be considerably faster than ours, but with so many possible targets to hit, numerically speaking, we should be able to arrive several ahead of them_."

"_Are the cities at risk?_"

Romulus sighed. "_I do not know. I pray they aren't_."

* * *

The _Homer_ and _Honestat_ exited hyperspace at yet another Romulan shipyard, easy pickings so far for the pair of Alterran warships, but this time there was something else in play…another ship, a big ship, spindly in construction that was moving in towards the handle of the 'fork' at a slow creep.

O'Neill motioned to Homer to open the comm, with an image of Liona appearing in holo beside him.

"_What do you think?_" he asked as the warships, having appeared at a decent distance away, began their approach while extending their massive weapon pods to expose the Lox generators and Pesqua launchers.

"_It is a hyperdrive cradle. It appears Romulus and Remus are moving the shipyards to new locations._"

"_You've seen one before?_"

"_Did you not read Janus's reports from the alternate realities?_"

O'Neill raised his eyebrows in a 'really' gesture.

"_I should have known better_," she said with a slightly disgusted/bemused tone. "_Given such, I find it surprising that you would question my having more knowledge than you in any circumstance_."

"_Book smart and street smart are two very different things, sweetheart…especially when we can just download whatever books we want straight into our heads inside of thirty seconds_."

"_And yet you didn't take the 30 seconds for Janus's work?_"

"_I had golf balls to hit. But to answer your question, between the two of us you're the blonde_."

She stared at him unflinchingly. "_Does that hold some special significance I'm unaware of?_"

"_Guess that wasn't in one of your downloads?_"

Liona rolled her eyes. "_We're almost in weapons range. I suggest we target the cradle first. It has limited shielding and if we can get it before it gets inside the station's shields we will prevent it from escaping_."

"_Why not just blow both of them up at the same time?_"

On the holographic monitors a short spurt of pesqua shot out from the _Honestat_.

"_Because once it is locked in place it will jump out immediately_."

"_All the more reason to blow up the station_."

"_Watch and learn, young one_," she said tiredly.

"_Watching…_" O'Neill said, crossing his arms over his chest.

The pesqua outpaced the Columnars quickly, crossing the distance to the Romulan station before the other weapon systems could come within effective range. Instead of plunging into the already raised shields they zipped around to the back side, losing several of their number from the anti-pesqua defenses. There the cradle was impressively breaching the station's shields without them having to be lowered. It was halfway through when the pesqua hit its own weaker shields, pummeling a small spot and point overloading it until the last handful shot through and into one of the spines in the hull.

From there they spun around inside, pulling as much wireless energy transfer from the _Honestat_ as they could, though with the ranges involved it wasn't nearly as much as usual. When their energy reserves hit a predetermined low level they finally detonated, breaking the cradle up into three segments that began drifting wildly, one of which nicked the station's hull while the other two drifted off.

A few seconds later the Columnars entered preferred weapons range for their primary weapon and Liona raised an eyebrow at O'Neill.

"_Now can I blow it up?_" he asked, having caught the point of the tactics she had employed without owning up to it.

"_It's your turn_," she said, smugly satisfied.

O'Neill clapped his hands together and glanced at Homer. "Find me a sweet spot."

The cartoon character pulled out a humorously large calculator and began punching buttons furiously, then pointed up into the sky, closed one eye, then went back to punching more buttons. Finally he frowned and pointed toward the station with a precise targeting icon appearing on the hologram. "Try there."

"You sure?" O'Neill asked, not thinking that particular portion was all that critical.

"No."

"Sounds good. Are we charged yet?"

"92 percent."

O'Neill nodded. "Fire."

The primary weapon on the _Homer_ released its green beam, followed by the telltale oversurge pulse which broke through the station's shields and allowed the remainder of the beam to hit the hull, gouging out a small portion on the rightmost prong of the fork, but not doing any other visible damage.

"That's it?" he asked Homer.

"Wait for it," the cartoon said slowly, pressing his hands together and closing his eyes patiently. Meanwhile a host of ships were coming online and detaching to move out and engage the Alterra.

"_My turn?_" Liona asked. "_Or would you like to wait until all of their ships are operati_…" she cut off as a series of secondary explosions ran up the side of the prong of the fork that the _Homer_ had hit. Slowly they spread down the handle until they reached one particular spot, then a much larger explosion broke it in half, with the section that the cradle had been trying to dock with disconnecting and drifting away as more little dots that were warships began fleeing the wreckage.

"_Sweet_," O'Neill commented. "_I think that counts for half a kill? You can clean up the rest now_."

"_Thank you for your permission_," Liona said dryly as her ship fired off two partial main weapon blasts, neither with an oversurge pulse, that cored all the way through the other prongs, severing them from the bulk of the station which was then punctured and detonated by a third blast that was all pulse, no beam.

O'Neill turned to Homer. "Mark it."

The cartoon put half a chalk mark up on the board with a wry grin, because that now put them ahead of Liona by a full kill, breaking the perpetual tie they'd been locked in.

"_Let's get moving fellas_," O'Neill said to his gunners as he sped the ship forward to engage the Romulan warships. "_The more of these we kill now the less they'll have to hit our planets with later_," he said as some of the loners were already starting to escape into hyperspace, though several clusters were determined to make assault runs on the Columnars, despite the futility of their situation.

* * *

"_Open communications_," Romulus said as his warship dropped out of hyperspace near one of their many shipyards. Luckily this one hadn't been targeted yet, though there was no way of telling how long that would last.

An image of a Lantean appeared on the main screen, whose eyes immediately went wide with shock at seeing the commander of the ship.

"_Romulus? We were told you'd been killed_."

"_Nearly, but no_," he said, standing up out of his chair and crossing his arms behind his back calmly. "_Your station is at risk and I have much work to do. Please adjust your shield frequencies to accommodate ring transport_."

"_Gladly_," the Lantean said, gesturing to someone off screen. "_You have no idea how glad we are to see you alive. I guess we should have known the Alterra couldn't kill you that easily_."

Romulus raised an eyebrow. "_Is that what Remus told you?_"

"_Yes…does he know you've survived?_"

"_If not, he will soon enough. Begin preparations to deploy your fleet_."

"_How many?_"

"_All of them_," Romulus said, walking away from his chair and heading aft to the ring room where he met up with Jina and they both transferred over to the shipyard.

"_Be quick_," he told her.

She nodded and jogged off as Romulus walked briskly over to the command floor where he met up with the same Lantean he had been talking to earlier, along with several dozen others milling about, all of whom were staring at him intently, some with specs of tears in their eyes.

"_I need you all to listen carefully_," he said, making sure he had their attention before speaking. "_What I am about to tell you will not sit well, but you need to know the truth. Our alliance with the Wraith was not my doing. It was Remus's. When he brought the idea to me I refused…then he tried to kill me_."

Dead silence followed, aside from a pair of gasps.

"_He did manage to kill every single person on Alba Longa aside from myself and one other survivor. We have been in hiding ever since. Remus recently moved Alba Longa, which gave us our opportunity to escape. Do you know why he moved it?_"

One of the other Lanteans swallowed hard. "_The Alterra are targeting our installations. Somehow they gained access to our locations and are picking off our shipyards one by one…but in a random pattern we can't predict. Alba Longa was to be their first target, but Remus moved the fleet there before they could hit it_."

"_How did he know they were coming?_"

"_I don't know_."

Romulus looked around, seeing and sensing that no one else knew either, though he suspected there was a great deal more to the story.

"_Listen to me carefully_," he said in a low voice that forced everyone to focus. "_Remus's betrayal is a wound that we…that I, cannot simply push aside and move on from. It destroys the very fabric of our civilization, but more than the bond we shared. What drove all of us for these many centuries was our determination to end the Wraith once and for all. He has betrayed that as well, no matter what plans he might have to finish the job later_."

"_The only way we survive what is to become a civil war is by not fighting it. I am rallying as many ships, iktal, and cities to my side as I can…for the single purpose of launching them against the Wraith, breaking this unholy alliance and fulfilling the promise we made to our fallen brothers so long ago. We will not battle the Alterra, we will not battle our own…we will hit the Wraith so fast and so hard that neither will be able to catch up with us, after which we can see to Remus's betrayal and the Alterra_."

Romulus looked around, making brief eye contact with everyone in the room. "_What say you?_"

The commander of the station stepped forward immediately and Romulus could sense the pride swelling in him. "_We're with you_."

Romulus nodded, telepathically confirming the same sentiment in the others. "_Thank you, brothers. We have much work to do. Let us begin immediately_."


	3. Chapter 3

"_Sir, one of our escort ships hasn't arrived. Sensor records indicate it did not make the jump to hyperspace when Alba Longa left the system_."

Remus's head slowly turned away from his data screen to face the man, his eyes narrowing. "_Where's it at now?_"

"_It's disappeared from our tracking program_."

A sneer crossed the Lantean's face and he tilted his chin in a small measure of respect to his counterpart. "_Monitor all installations. When it shows up again I want it destroyed on sight_."

The Lantean frowned but didn't argue the order.

"_Also, lock out all remote connectivity of city functions_."

"_I can do most of that, but your security code will be needed for some functions_."

Remus nodded. "_I also want all our ships reconfigured for local control only_."

The Lantean blinked in surprise. "_Define 'all?'_"

"_Our escorts first…then I want couriers sent out to our other facilities to lock them down as well._"

"_Do we have a security breach, sir?_"

"_Romulus is alive_," he said evenly.

The Lantean's eyes widened. "_I thought the Iktal killed him?_"

"_Apparently not_," Remus said, lying skillfully. He hadn't wanted the others to know he'd escaped, but now that was no longer an option. "_And he's going to try to gain control over our network, so we have to lock him out of as many systems as possible now, before he gets a foothold_."

"_Only you have the access to do that_."

"_And I will_," Remus said forcefully, keeping a lid on his anger, "_but I need you to organize teams to travel out to our other facilities, take command, and manually lock out the interstellar command relays. That way he'll have to be physically on site to commandeer ships_."

The man swallowed hard. "_Is he going to start a civil war?_"

"_Not if we move quickly_," Remus promised. "_I will delay his takeover of the system…while I'm busy doing that you have to physically secure systems, starting with this city. He may have backdoor programs for access that I'm unaware of, so physically cut the receiving ability_."

"_You want transmission left intact?_"

"_Yes_."

"_Anything else?_"

"_Hurry_," Remus said in a whisper.

The Lantean nodded and rushed off, leaving Remus in his personal lab. Once the man was gone and the door closed behind him Remus slammed his fist down on the desktop once, allowing himself that small amount of vexation. If Romulus was free and had access to the grid he could cause all kinds of trouble, but word of his surviving was going to do the most damage.

Accessing the interstellar command network, Remus tore into the system and began remotely shutting down the information updates below command authority…of which only Remus and Romulus possessed. Romulus's access had been deleted previously, but Remus knew that would only slightly delay the man. His counterpart had designed most of it, while Remus had built most of the specialty pieces associated with research and development. He was the more creative of the pair, but Romulus made up for it in taking existing, well prove tech and reworking it into new configurations…boring stuff as far as Remus was concerned, but overly useful.

The communications systems and most of the computer databases had, therefore, been designed and built by his counterpart, though Remus was far from inexperienced with the inner workings of their grid. Trick of it was, he had no way of knowing how many little surprises Romulus had worked into his creations that weren't public knowledge, so Remus had no illusions of being able to keep the man out permanently.

He knew his only option was cutting his losses, containing the damage, and tracking down and killing the man before word of his survival spread.

The comm lockdown he'd just initiated would keep idle chatter from spreading, but he was going to have to purge all those installations that Romulus contacted. The Iktal could be reprogrammed easily enough, but every Lantean not personally loyal to Remus that knew of Romulus's survival was going to have to be eliminated…and he hoped for the sake of his people that he could stop his friend before the number of necessary casualties rose to catastrophic levels.

* * *

Busy working his way through the depth of the Lantean computer network Romulus took a few moments to track down Alba Longa's location, first to see if it was possible, and second to try and determine what course of action Remus might be taking to counter him. When the tracking marker identified the city's location without any prying necessary he found that odd, then noted that the entire system had seen a reboot, executed only a few hours previously. It was a code-locked reboot, the kind intended to shuffle unwanted hackers out of the system by having personnel on location validate their identities before they'd be given access to the new system.

Remus had probably done that as a result of a security breach…perhaps that was how the Alterra had been targeting their shipyards, a number of which had gone offline almost at random since Romulus had arrived at this station. Each one destroyed meant iktal and warships that had been intended to fight the Wraith had been destroyed pointlessly, but beyond that, more of his fellow Lanteans were being killed in a fight that Remus alone was responsible for…and he didn't like that one bit.

So he figured, as long as the tracking system, rebooted as it was, was still functioning...why not give them a bigger target to hunt?

* * *

O'Neill was asleep in the control chair on the bridge taking a cat nap during a hyperspace jump when the _Homer_ picked up the Lantean signal.

"That's odd," the holographic avatar said, popping into view beside the chair, then looked down at him and pretended to poke the Alterra with his finger. "Hey, you, wake up. Important stuff here."

The computer adjusted the tilt of the control chair a couple centimeters, jolting O'Neill back to consciousness.

He blinked and rubbed his eyes a couple times. "_We there yet?_"

"No. But I'm picking up an odd signal."

O'Neill sat up, seemingly half-interested. "What kind of signal?"

"Something that hasn't been used in 10,000 years. It's using a defunct code that was old back before Atlantis got dunked."

"Does the signal say anything or is it just shouting at the galaxy?"

Liona's image appeared in holo beside Homer. "_What do you make of this?_"

"_Still not sure what 'this' is. I can't get a straight answer from the computer_."

Homer's hologram turned to face the other Alterran. "He was meditating," it informed her, using quote fingers to emphasize 'meditating.'

"_The signal is Lantean and directing us to a set of coordinates,_" Liona said unphased. "_Only those with knowledge of Atlantis comm systems and codes would be able to detect the signal, much less decipher it, therefore I assume it is meant for us. The question is…what is its intent?_"

"_You know_, _you'd make an excellent librarian_," O'Neill commented, interfacing with the computer via the control chair and bringing up a galactic map with the coordinates highlighted. "_It's not one of the installations we've tagged._"

"_Nor is it an inhabited system_," Liona added.

"Wait," Homer interrupted, holding up a single finger for emphasis. "There's a message attached."

A cartoon rock came flying out of nowhere and hit him in the head, then dropped to the ground.

"Doh," he said, picking up the rock and pulling a sliver of paper out from under the string wrapped around it. As he did so an ancient script manifested itself in holo over O'Neill's chair.

_**Alterran warships, take heed. There is a division within the Lantean ranks. Those who treasonously allied themselves with the Wraith and attacked you are led by a man called Remus. He captured my city, killed everyone onboard, and nearly killed me as well. Please stop destroying the shipyards I am attempting to commandeer to oppose him and go kill the traitor directly. **_

"_Well now_," O'Neill said, sitting up a bit straighter, "_that's interesting. I'm presuming the author is Romulus?_"

"_That was my assumption_," Liona agreed.

"_Pithy guy…you believe it?_"

"_Sadly yes_."

O'Neill raised an eyebrow. "_Oh?_"

"_Remus was always unscrupulous, but those two Lanteans shared a tighter bond than most others. It is sad to see such friendship be dissolved_."

"_I must have missed that neural download,_" O'Neill said with a frown. "_According to Janus their doppelgangers were bad guys wanting to do us in…come to think of it, I wonder if I was there in the alternate realities or back on Earth_."

"_They were once both prominent Lanteans. With our access to Atlantis's records they would not risk such an unnatural ruse…which is why I believe he speaks the truth about the rift between them._"

"_As much as I like going off half-cocked, I think we need to clue our fearless leader in on this one,_" O'Neill suggested.

"_Agreed_."

He turned to Homer. "Contact Ryan…Sheppard too if he's available."

"_Usually it's Ryan that's not_," Liona commented. "_We're going to be at our next target shortly. Shall we drop out of hyperspace while we resolve this?_"

"Do it," O'Neill said, glancing at the cartoon character that controlled his ship. _Homer_ interlinked with the _Honestat_ and timed their reversion to coincide, dropping both ships out of the blue/white alternate dimension and back into Midgar. A few minutes after that Ryan's image appeared alongside Liona's.

"_What's up?_" Stevenson asked in a bit of a foul mood, though it was always hard to tell given the man's otherwise blank demeanor.

"_What's with you, grumpy?_" O'Neill asked. "_Things not go well?_"

"_We lost the Attero Device_," he said simply, "_and a Columnar_."

"_Ouch_," O'Neill said as Liona stepped in.

"_We've picked up this signal_," she said, motioning for her ship's avatar to send it to Stevenson, "_detailing a set of coordinates with an unusual message attached_."

"_Hey guys_," Sheppard said as his hologram shoved the others over a bit to make room. "_Run out of pesqua yet? Been monitoring you kill count_."

"_We might have a line on Remus_," O'Neill said as Stevenson was busy evaluating the signal on his end.

"_Really…where?_"

"_Uninhabited system_," Ryan answered, bringing up a communal map for all four Alterra to see. "_Not that far away from their current position. The message is the interesting part_."

Sheppard took a moment to get the data on his end, then his eyes widened. "_If this is true we need to make the most of it. We missed the city the first time, so I say go for it._"

"_What are we looking at if it's a fake?_" O'Neill asked, though personally he was leaning Sheppard's way.

"_A delaying tactic offering them more time to move their shipyards_," Liona answered.

Ryan shook his head. "_There's too many for them to move. They might save a few with the delay, but not the majority of them._"

"_A simple signal might be deemed worthy of saving a few_," Liona pointed out, "_but I believe this message to be genuine. I am unsure how well we will fare, though, without reinforcements_."

"_We'll just have to earn our keep_," O'Neill said, glancing at Sheppard for confirmation.

"_We can't risk sending any backup, you'll have to do this on your own_."

"_It's doable with two_," Stevenson agreed, "_but be cagey. If Alba Longa has fled to a rendezvous with additional reinforcements you may have to make a series of hit and run attacks to thin their numbers before you can assault the city directly._"

"_At which point it'll try to run…again_," Sheppard pointed out, none too happy about missing it the first time.

"_Have you completed a signal trace?_" Stevenson asked.

"_Multiple broadcast points_," Liona answered. "_Romulus wasn't so sloppy as to reveal his position._"

"_Do not consider him an ally_," Stevenson warned. "_But if you can find him, I want to know_."

Sheppard's hologram turned to look at the super-ancient. "_To have a chat or kick his ass?_"

"_Whatever is required. Allying with the Wraith may have caused their split, but that doesn't mean they consider us to be friendlies, despite our shared ancestry_."

"_Point taken_," Sheppard acknowledged.

"_Do you want it blown up?_" O'Neill asked both Alterra simultaneously, "_or captured? The message said there were only Wraith-friendly Lanteans onboard._"

Stevenson glanced at Sheppard for a moment, then responded. "_Capture is preferred, but 'blowing up' is better than letting it escape_."

"_I can live with that_," O'Neill said, looking at Liona. "_You?_"

"_I agree we go to the location the signal is leading us…but I recommend you dispatch any traveler ships in the area to monitor the Lantean installations. If some are moved, they may be able to track them to their new locations_."

"_Good idea_," Stevenson agreed. "_Sheppard?_"

"_I'll get on it. Good hunting_," he offered.

O'Neill turned to Homer. "Let's go bag ourselves a city."


	4. Chapter 4

Romulus had assembled loyalists from 3 different shipyards and sent them off to gather others, manually implementing his override programs and gathering more ships and personnel to the cause while he remained tied to the interlinking computer systems that bound the Lantean infrastructure together, doing what he could remotely to stall Remus's takeover…as well as discover what alterations the man had made in the network while he and Jina had been running for their lives.

He also had several other Lanteans working the system handling less intensive remote tasks, attempting to hack into other shipyards' systems and allow Romulus to override their systems and call the ships to him for subsequent manual reprogramming...but one of those hacking attempts resulted in an unexpected result.

The computer tech in question, Hamas, suddenly got a communications prompt from a high ranking Lantean that turned into a holographic transmission before he even had the opportunity to think of not responding.

"_Would you mind telling me what you're doing in my system?_" Prioticry asked, crossing his arms over his chest and looking very annoyed.

"_My apologies, commander…I was…only carrying out my assigned duties. Did I cause some malfunction?_"

"_What duties would those be?_" he asked, not buying his excuse.

"_Making alterations to the code prompts_," Hamas lied.

"_On Remus's order? Because other than him, no one has priority access of my local network and anyone who goes nosing around inside it had better have a damn good reason as to why._"

"_I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to say_."

"_Don't make me send security for you. Tell me now what you're running and I may be lenient_."

"_It's alright, Hamas_," a voice said from outside the hologram as seen from Prioticry's end…then the Lantean commander's eyes went wide as Romulus walked up beside the man and into the transmission. "_I authorized his work_."

"_Romulus?! We were told the Alterra killed you?_"

"_Do not ask, Prioticry. Simply allow him to continue his work_."

The Lantean commander's eyes narrowed. "_Everyone believes you're dead. Remus told us so. He pointed to it as the reason why we needed to ally with the Wraith to defeat the Alterra_."

Romulus held up a hand of warning. "_Do not ask, and do not tell anyone else that you have spoken with me or you will put your city in danger. I must remain a ghost_."

Prioticry unfurled his arms and placed his hands on his hips. "_As you wish, but make me understand the why first. If I am to keep your secret let me know all of it_."

"_It would be better if you did not_," Romulus argued.

"_Not good enough. There's been a lot of changes since you've been gone, and now I'm beginning to suspect things. Put my mind at ease_."

"_That I cannot do_," Romulus said, closing his eyes in silent surrender. "_Remus tried to kill me on Alba Longa. He murdered everyone in the city, save for I and one other that barely managed to escape. I have no doubt he will do likewise elsewhere if there is opposition, thus this knowledge is a threat to you. Bury it within your mind and let me work in secret, for the sake of your city_."

Prioticry's hands pulled off his hips and clenched into fists. "_The Wraith?_"

"_He made the suggestion. I refused_."

"_Has he gone mad?_" he asked angrily.

"_He believes this to be the correct path and he will not let anything stand in his way_."

"_Has he no loyalty to the cause, let alone you? You two at odds is…unthinkable_."

"_A short while ago I would have agreed with you, but reality has educated me otherwise. For whatever his reasons, he is a traitor. I will not, however, use our resources to fight a civil war. We will waste all that we have built up for nothing. I intend to acquire as many ships as possible, quietly, and strike against the Wraith. That will end this unholy alliance. I will deal with Remus later, personally_."

"_Then let's forego this hacking. Roma stands with you and our cause_."

Romulus shook his head. "_I would expect Remus to have placed agents in your ranks to prevent my takeover. You risk your city by revealing my existence and his treason_."

"_I will take your warning into consideration, and I promise I will take appropriate measures, but Roma will not stand by and tolerate this treachery…nor will we allow you to start the crusade without proper backing_."

Romulus sighed. "_Your mind is set, and I would be remiss if I did not welcome the assistance, but do not underestimate Remus's deviousness. Perhaps I alone truly know what he is capable of_."

"_Leave Roma to me. I will contact you again when I have secured the city_."

"_Be wary…you will only have one opportunity to act_."

Prioticry nodded and his hologram faded away.

Romulus placed a hand on Hamas's shoulder, letting him know he wasn't upset with his failure to hide his hack. Prioticry was no fool, and the younger Lantean didn't have Romulus's knowledge to cloak his electronic movements.

"_Change proxies and continue. If he is unsuccessful I still want to syphon off their ships_."

* * *

The _Homer_ came out of hyperspace just beyond the tiny gravity signatures it had detected before reversion. Those signatures resolves themselves into a Lantean city floating in low orbit around a green/white world…with nearly 2,000 Lantean warships surrounding it.

"_They're multiplying like rabbits_," O'Neill said, with his Columnar safely outside weapon's range. "_Hit and run it is_," he said, talking to Liona's hologram as her Columnar was trailing behind a few seconds in hyperspace. "_You picked a spot?_"

"_Yes. Pursue the city if it escapes_."

"Homer," O'Neill said as the _Honestat_ dropped out of hyperspace on the edge of the Lantean ship hoard, "keep score."

* * *

"_Report!_" Remus demanded as he ran into Alba Longa's control room.

"_Hyperspace jamming is in effect_. _The Alterran ships have swapped out again, with the second placed directly in front of us. We are relocating but we can't escape both with them maneuvering about in this way._"

The Lantean looked at the battle hologram, seeing his fleet engaging one of the Columnars…then it vanished, jumping into hyperspace before his warships could engage it with mass fire. The other one was ahead of the city with more of the Lantean warships shooting out ahead of Alba Longa to engage it as the ranges closed.

Remus saw the shaded region on the map, indicating where the Alterran ships were jamming his city's ability to enter hyperspace. It wasn't a spherical projection as he'd expected, but targeted directly on Alba Longa, allowing the other enemy vessel to enter and exit hyperspace at will.

Damn their technology. He had to outthink them.

Remus focused his mind to think logically, putting his panic aside. There appeared to be 2 vessels, which meant he had sufficient firepower to take at least one down, if not both if applied properly. They knew this, otherwise they would have employed a frontal assault. As it was they were whittling away at his numbers while preventing his ships from sustaining enough firepower to penetrate their shields.

The depletion of their shields would take time to recharge, so they were engaging at range, causing his ships to travel out to them and buying time. He had to fix that.

"_Pull back our perimeter defenses_," he ordered, decrying a new line on the map a full 2/3rds nearer. "_Make them come closer to us_."

"_They can sit out there and prevent us from jumping to hyperspace while they summon reinforcements_," one of his subordinates offered as he implemented the orders.

"_So can we. Pull in our nearby ships and get others enroute in case this turns out to be a prolonged engagement_."

"_Battle simulations suggest a cascading probability of defeat when the number of their larger vessels escalates, even with duplicate numbers of reinforcements. We need to hit them when they're isolated and they're engaging us one at a time. If we wait they could bring several to bear on us at once._"

"_We can use that to our advantage_," Remus pointed out, working a computer console. "_If they pull ships off their worlds to come at us we can initiate another joint strike with the Wraith that will severely damage their infrastructure. They might even lose a world or two in the exchange_."

* * *

Prioticry's hologram returned to the shipyard control room several hours later. "_It is done_."

Romulus raised an eyebrow. "_Trouble?_"

The Lantean shook his head. "_Little. With some clever precautions his agents betrayed themselves. We are searching for others, but the city is yours. What would you have us do?_"

"_Come to me. We're organizing a rally point and you'll be safer from Remus's forces if you stay on the move_."

Prioticry nodded. "_Might I suggest you inform the other cities? Dangerous as it might be, I don't think it's right to keep them in the dark while Remus works to undermine us. We are loyal to the cause, and I believe you will find their faith in Remus has been severely shaken by our alliance with the Wraith…and they're going to notice Roma's actions sooner or later_."

"_Aventine will not side with me_," Romulus argued, referring to Remus's city.

Prioticry crossed his arms over his chest. "_I think they will, though there may be some bloodshed involved. Leave them till last._"

Romulus looked around the shipyard's control room, seeing and sensing the dispositions of the others. They wanted the word spread and the other Lanteans to rally to Romulus's banner. Perhaps he was underestimating their loyalty.

"_Very well. Make the contacts and confer with me when you have everyone_."

"_It will take only a few minutes_," Prioticry promised before cutting the transmission.

Romulus waited patiently, hoping that Prioticry's instincts were right, then much earlier than he anticipated the leaders of the four other cities appeared alongside Roma's leader, all with mixed expressions of shock and outrage.

"_You are alive_," Palatine's commander said, aghast.

"_Is what Prioticry says true?_" Adaline asked.

"_It is_," Romulus answered, and he could see the expressions of relief on their features as he spoke. A voice that they had never thought to hear again. "_I trust he has made you aware of the risks involved with this knowledge. Where do you stand?_"

"_That's an absurd question_," Dangrel said, his voice barely controlled outrage. "_We stand against the Wraith, as we always have. We only followed Remus's lead because we trusted him and you were gone. Now that we know the truth…_"

"_What would you have us do?_" Adaline asked, her fiery red hair paling in comparison to the determination in her voice.

"_Secure your cities_," Romulus said firmly. "_There are vipers in your midst. Once they are contained we will discuss strategy_."

"_With pleasure_," the Lantean said, cutting out her transmission before the others so she could begin her own mini purge as soon as possible. The others confirmed her sentiment in less overt means and disappeared from the transmission as well, leaving only Prioticry remaining.

"_We're with you, Romulus. As we have always been_."

"_Thank you, my friend_," the Lantean said genuinely. "_Now, we have a lot of work to do if we're going to lock Remus out of our control network…_"

* * *

The Alterra had managed to destroy over 500 of Remus's warships with their hit and run attacks over the previous day, but 118 new ships had arrived to replace them with many more on the way. Still, not one Alterran shot had landed on Alba Longa's shields, only their persistent hyperspace jammer which one of their ships would project in turn with the other, emerging from hyperspace at random locations to assault Remus's now closely boxed fleet.

They were getting good return salvos in, increasing the lag between attacks as the Alterra's shields had to recharge, but still not one bit of hull damage had been done to either of the ships, turning this conflict into a bit of a stalemate that was succeeding in destroying an insignificant number of Lantean ships. He'd been monitoring intelligence reports from the Alterran worlds, waiting for an opening to strike but so far not one of their guardian warships had departed, making him think that these two Columnars alone were going to be his sole antagonists.

To that end he was preparing contingency attack plans, utilizing the incoming fleets and having part of them rendezvous at a staging area just outside the system so that he could potentially pin one of the Columnars in place long enough to deliver a salvo strong enough to penetrate their shields, after which their primary weapon would become the target. It was encased in a secondary shield in lieu of the armor that could not cover it, but by his calculations it was penetrable as well, he just needed the appropriate number of ships in place at the opportune moment.

* * *

O'Neill stood beside his command chair as the _Homer_ held position a short ways away from Remus's fleet, but not currently engaged. The Columnar was holding the hyperspace jamming field, now shaped like a cone, over the city while the _Honestat_ moved about in hyperspace, redeploying outside the system so it could make a reverse jump back to the precise point of attack Liona wanted and rack up a few more warship kills before bugging out…then they would switch and O'Neill would make a run with his fully charged shields.

Before she could tag him again a hyperspace tracking icon appeared nearby, indicating a vessel approaching without ID. Before O'Neill could wonder out loud what it was Sheppard's hologram appeared on the bridge.

"_Sorry we're late to the party. Still some cake left I hope?_"

"_I thought you said you couldn't spare any ships?_" O'Neill asked, happy to have the help regardless.

"_Well, this one was only guarding itself so we figured why not bring it out to play_," the Alterra said with a hint of a smile just as the contact arrived in system and Atlantis dropped out of hyperspace alongside the _Homer_ and stared down its sister city.


	5. Chapter 5

With both Columnars coming in on the flanks of the Lantean fleet and unleashing havoc with massive streams of pesqua flying into the swarm of enemy ships, bouncing off their shields and draining them with every hit, Atlantis flew straight into the heart of the swarm and began racking up an insane number of Lantean heavy energy blasts on her shields, covering the city in a blanket of green energy. Back out from that storm came more potent joktala blasts, coring through Lantean ships two and three at a time as the city forced its way closer to Alba longa.

When the ranges closed the secondary weapon systems in the original Lantean city opened up and a massive fireworks display ensued while the two Columnars angled for simultaneous attacks on Alba Longa. As one, they fired their primary weapons straight through the fleet, vaporizing or clipping several warships along the way. Neither one fired a pulse, but emptied their capacitors with a thin beam only, both of which penetrated the city's shields near the end of their discharge.

Carefully aimed, neither beam hit the city, but passed through the empty space inside the bubble-like perimeter on the topside and exited out the back. When the shields went down there was a massive 'pop' as the internal atmosphere was unleashed. No one had been on the city's exterior at the time, so the loss of atmosphere came with no collateral damage. No systems were destroyed or even disrupted, save for the shield, and no enemy weaponsfire fell on the city for the handful of seconds it took to reset and recharge the emitters.

Soon the shields came back up, albeit very thin, but with no incoming weaponsfire they began to regain strength quickly. Oddly enough, all three Alterra vessels began to move off, pulling portions of the Lantean fleet with them as they continued to battle at a furious pace. Divided as they were the amount of weaponsfire the Lanteans could throw at any individual vessel had been diminished to reasonable numbers, with the heaviest concentration centered on Atlantis…though with three potentia powering its shields it wasn't in serious danger.

Alba Longa held back, no match for the Alterra in that it didn't have the high powered defensive weaponry that Atlantis did. The weapon systems it did have were significant, but it didn't move out to engage with the rest of the fleet. Instead it backed off, trying to run to the edge of the jamming zone while the Alterra were out of position.

With the Lantean city accelerating hard it looked like it was going to make its escape, thanks to the change of Alterran tactics. Had their Columnars continued to swap off one of them could have intercepted the city before it got out of range, but instead they'd elected for a frontal assault that, while causing horrific damage to Remus's fleet, was ironically allowing the mastermind to escape.

When Alba Longa eventually outran the jamming zone being emitted by the _Honestat_ it went…nowhere. Its primary engines disengaged and it continued drifting down towards the edge of the planet's atmosphere, then made a minor correction and settled into an extremely low orbit. With the Lantean fleet preoccupied and believing it was screening for Remus's escape, the true battle was taking place inside the city.

* * *

When Alba Longa's shields went down nothing hit the exposed city, save for a ring transmission beam that deposited a single individual at the base of the central spire surrounded by six iktal guards. With a flick of his forearm, Stevenson sent all of them flying back against the walls. They hit hard and slumped to the ground, then were killed by a slew of pointblank green orbs before the black-clad ancient walked forward, pulling off two attachments from his liquid armor, one from each upper arm.

Stevenson dropped them on the ground next to the dead iktal and ran off through the city, mowing down any more guards that came his way. The two objects laid there for a few seconds, then melted into a pair of puddles, out of which human-form replicators grew. Once fully deployed they moved off in separate directions, one headed for the nearest central computer system hub and the other for the control room.

* * *

Remus saw the security warnings the moment the first iktal were taken down. Their cybernetic enhancements relayed the brief visual footage of the encounter to the control network and the Lantean knew immediately that the city had become compromised. He ordered a lockdown of vital areas and a repositioning of the city's guards, getting the control room staff mobilized into a frenzy of action…then he slipped out quietly, bringing a pair of trusted aids with him.

The threesome headed down the tower, taking the most difficult means possible in order to avoid the boarding parties that were invariably working their way up. Halfway down the Lanteans appropriated a transport terminal, with Remus countermanding the lockdown order on site. They transported over to another tower, far from the Alterra, and continued their descent, heading for the ventral navicula porta bay.

Using transport chambers as much as possible, Remus and the pair made good time moving throughout the city, all the while issuing orders through his earpiece and having one of the Lantean warships standing by to turn away from the battle and rendezvous with them outside the shield perimeter, scoop them up, and run far enough away to make the jump into hyperspace. The rest of the fleet would remain and continue the fight as a costly diversion, but at this point all that mattered was Remus's escape. They had many more ships to replace those that were being lost, and even Alba Longa wasn't their only city, though the access to their control systems would be devastating if Remus couldn't get them deleted before leaving the city.

It was that task that preoccupied his attention, prompting him to let one of his aids lead the way so he could focus on the effort at hand and not navigation through the city. As the threesome neared the lower jumper bay they turned a corner into a long hallway that led to an adjunct near their destination, but three steps past the turn Remus blacked out and fell to the ground, knocking off his earpiece and sending it skidding across the smooth floor.

His aids stopped in shock and backtracked, standing over their leader and examining his lack of vitals. He had no pulse, no respiration, and no telepathic presence. One of them flipped him over and placed a hand on his forehead, trying to establish some connection with Remus's mind using his own limited telepathic ability but there was nothing to connect with.

Before they could begin to puzzle out what happened their bodies were yanked from the ground, one of which was pinned against the wall while the other flew through the air straight into a blue orb that left the Lantean unconscious.

Coming around the corner Stevenson let the man drop none too gently, then he shot the pinned one and released his telekinetic hold as he looked down at the third man, knowing that until a moment ago he had been Remus. He'd been tracking him telepathically across the city and was just about to him when the presence cut out, and now he could see that he was, in fact, dead.

The Alterra knelt down next to his body and pressed a hand against the man's chest, searching for the flicker of life that he could possibly rekindle…not that he would. It wasn't there, as he suspected, and Stevenson forced himself to keep looking down and avoid eyeing the spot atop the hallway where an ascended being lurked. Ryan had felt it a dozen steps before making the corner, and given that his quarry had fallen dead a moment later with no visible wounds there was no doubt in his mind that he'd just been executed to keep the Alterra from probing his memories…for they too were gone, completely wiped out, along with what should have been the man's residual core energy.

The body before him was an empty shell, neatly concealing the secret of the Ascended Empire's involvement with the Lanteans. Stevenson didn't have to puzzle hard to think of a plausible reason as to why. Romulus and Remus hated the Wraith, and it would have taken some serious arm twisting to get them to abandon their quest and ally with their enemy, no matter how much they hated him and the other Alterra. Romulus's message mentioning a split within the ranks told Stevenson that Remus had been the agent of change, with the floating bundle of energy above him the true source of the chaos taking place across the Pegasus galaxy.

"_Now what could possibly have happened to you?_" Stevenson said, careful not to acknowledge the spot above his head, but with enough of a tone to suggest that he wasn't surprised. "_No core energy, memories wiped…all within a heartbeat before I could get to you. Now who could have the power to do that?_"

Stevenson stared down at Remus's dead face, but his focus was on the ascended being. He wasn't connected to the other dimension, meaning he was 'mundane' as far as the other side was concerned, but this one was still partially in this dimension, enough to observe events anyway, and the Alterra could feel the power clustered into that small point above him. That didn't stop him from taunting the enemy, which he figured would be more in character than trying to fake surprise…which he did poorly.

"_I thought you guys didn't interfere? That was your guiding rule. So why kill him now? What are you trying to hide from me? You already took Aeria," _he said, standing up and looking up slightly, but straight ahead rather than to the left where the ascended being actually was_. "If you don't want me doing this, the least you could do is tell me why!_"

There wasn't a response, not that he had expected one.

"_Maybe that's it. You're Lantean, I'm Alterra, and he was Lantean. Or are you all against me? You're supposed to be my brothers and sisters and you keep interfering with me. Why? Aeria at least you could pass off as you rescuing her, but this_," he said, pointing down at the dead Lantean. "_You didn't ascend him, you killed him, you pathetic hypocrites._"

"_Leave me alone or I swear I'll ascend myself and come kick your asses personally_," Stevenson said, surprised by how much truth was in his words. With that inconsequential threat he walked off, headed for the control room that the replicator had already captured. As he left he felt the presence disappear as well, though whether it went back to Alfleheym or just zipped off somewhere else in Midgar he didn't know. He'd gotten his cover story of outrage across, while keeping the knowledge of his own growing powers a secret. He wasn't powerful enough yet to take on an ascended being directly, but that time was coming.

* * *

Several weeks later and halfway across the galaxy the Lantean city of Roma exited hyperspace over the most heavily populated Wraith inner core world, formerly known as Issorkes. The Wraith knew it as Ompreleen, and the Lantean military had called it the 'world of lost dreams.' Three separate campaigns during the war had failed to breach its orbital defenses, let alone recapture the planet. The Wraith had used it as a fortress from which to strike out at multiple other systems in a chess match that had both Lantean and Wraith exchanging the same territory numerous times, but without capturing _this_ world none of those gains could be maintained and eventually the Lanteans were driven back by a flow of reinforcements, many of which were grown on the surface that Romulus now looked down upon from the balcony of the city.

With the air contained within the shield perimeter he watched along with Prioticry as more than 10,000 Lantean warships exited hyperspace behind and alongside them even as the Wraith ships in lower orbit began to reposition and come up after the city that had dared to appear in their sight.

"_Were you ever here before?_" Prioticry asked Romulus.

"_Passing through orbit only. I do remember seeing a thin stretch of lights on the night side along the ocean marking the colony…there_," he said, pointing to a now sunlit portion of the planet below them. Lights it did not have, but there were a large number of blue infectious growths on surface linked together by thin tendrils that covered the same location.

Both men held silent for a long moment, with the distant Wraith ships closing silently as they gathered their massive defensive fleet. A thin film of darts preceded them, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, but neither Lantean seemed concerned, almost oblivious to the mass of military might before them.

Romulus finally pulled a small transmitter out of a pocket and clipped it to his collar. With a telekinetic tap he turned it on, sending an open transmission out to every Wraith ship and city below.

"_For 10,000 years you have thought yourself victorious. You've grown, culled, hibernated and repeated your cycle in the knowledge that your greatest rival had been defeated and threatened you no more…but you are not the only ones that hibernated. I am Romulus, and I was there 10,000 years ago when you pushed back our fleets, sacked our cities, and fed on my brothers and sisters. I was there when Atlantis submerged and the others fled with you declaring your victory. I was there, hiding amongst the stars and plotting the day that I would return to continue the war that you thought was long since settled_."

"_You arrogantly believe yourself superior…and you think us weak. We made mistakes, some grave mistakes that gave you an opportunity and you wisely took advantage of it, but you didn't finish. You didn't seal the deal. You left Atlantis intact and you left me and a few others alive. You were sloppy, as you always are. Your greatest advantage has always been your numbers, and we failed to anticipate your rate of growing replacements_."

"_That mistake has been quantified and corrected_," Romulus said as more hyperspace windows opened beside them and the other Lantean cities appeared. Palatine, Velabrum, Arvales, Tiberia, and Aventine appeared alongside Roma in a long chain, and along with them came tens of thousands of warships.

Romulus raised his chin slightly as he stared down at the intimidating mass of Wraith ships.

"_The war has returned, and this time, we are well prepared_."


End file.
